Michigan state trooper killed in west Michigan

A Michigan state trooper fatally shot during a traffic stop was the victim of a “senseless incident,” Gov. Rick Snyder said today.

Trooper Paul Butterfield of the Hart post was shot in Mason County on Monday night. Butterfield stopped a vehicle at 6:20 p.m. in Sherman Township and three minutes later a motorist called 911 to report that a trooper had been shot in the head. Butterfield died during emergency surgery at Munson Medical Center, the Michigan State Police said in a news release.

“A tragic event like this shakes us all, but it also bolsters our resolve to make our streets and our neighborhoods safer,” the governor said in a statement. Sherman Township is about 80 miles north of Grand Rapids.

A vehicle later was found based on information Butterfield had called in, and police located two suspects at a gas station in Wellston around 8:30 p.m. Police exchanged gunfire, and one suspect was shot.

A man and woman were taken into custody. The man was taken to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

“This senseless incident is a grim reminder that our brave public safety officers put their lives on the line every day when they go to work protecting Michiganders,” Snyder said.

“They are heroes.”

Butterfield, who became a trooper in 1999, was a veteran of the U.S. Army.

“Tonight we lost a hero,” state police director Col. Kriste Kibbey Etue said in a statement. “The entire MSP family, as well as our greater law enforcement family, mourns alongside the Butterfields. Trooper Butterfield’s sacrifice will never be forgotten. May he rest in peace.”